The Quiet Man
by psykorabbit2000
Summary: After being injured and separated from her team, Arcee discovers a strange man that starts to fix her injuries. Please R&R and no flamers please. Will continue pending response. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

The Quiet Man

Arcee dodged the incoming laser fire from the Vehicons. She rolled across the ground and fired back, striking down two of them. A quick glanced showed Bulkhead fighting with Shockwave, Bumble Bee and Knock Out dueling around, Optimus was shooting it out with Megatron, and Smokescreen and Starscream going at each other. None to give her a hand with the Vehicons.

"This is why I hate being outnumbered." She growled as she ducked behind a boulder, to avoid more fire coming her way.

Laser fire tore at the rock as the group of Vehicons shot rapidly, blowing chunks off the boulder. Arcee crouched down and prepared to make a move, when she spotted something that made her energon run cold. UP on a cliff a Vehicon took aim at her area with a twin rocket launcher and fired.

"Oh scrap!" Arcee gasped.

Then the rockets hit and the explosion engulfed Arcee. Unseen to others, her smaller frame was launched off the cliff and she bounced down the cliff, breaking off bits of her armor. She tumbled and bounced one last time, right off a drop off and free fell into the forest below.

After the battle Optimus looked around at everyone that was present. His eyes narrowed, noticing he was a member short.

"Where is Arcee?" He asked quietly as he looked around.

"I saw her fighting the Vehicons over by the edge. I tried to get to her, but Starscream got in my way and I couldn't shake him." Smokescreen said looking around, realizing that the blue armored scout was missing.

He moved over to the site he had seen her and found a giant smoking crater. There were pieces of blue armor and energon scattered everywhere.

"By the spark!" He gasped looking around rapidly, as the others came over.

The group looked around and Optimus Prime looked over the cliff, seeing bits of blue armor and energon down the cliff face

"This is not good." Prime said quietly and turned to the others. "Return to base and get patched up by Ratchet. I don't want any of you going looking for her without clearance from Ratchet. We don't need to lose others why searching."

Arcee slowly opened her eyes. She blinked to try and remove the fuzziness from her eyes.

"What… happened?" She asked weakly.

"You almost fell on me." A strange voice replied calmly. "Don't try to move. I had to detach a few of your biomechanics to keep you from tossing around and aggravating your injuries, my blue friend. Your head and neck can move for now. I'll see if I can do something about your eyesight."

A blurry figure appeared on the side of Arcee's head and knelt down. From what she could see, it was a human. She felt careful hands gently push and pop a small plate open beside her eyes. A hand slid in slowly. 

"Tell me when it gets clearer." The human said gently.

She felt the fingers gently prod and softly move small pieces around. She waited with a held breath and soon the vision became crystal clear.

"There." She said.

The hand withdrew and the plate slid back into place smoothly

"Lift your head and I will put something behind it to see if I can give you any comfort while I see to your wounds." The voice said.

Arcee lifted her head to look at the guy and felt something slide under her head. All she saw was the back of the human. By the voice and the shape she could tell it was male.

"Not sure how comfy that will be. It's a giant sand bag. Sadly I don't have pillows for your size." The man said and chuckled a little, as he walked around and stood where she could see him.

The first thing Arcee noticed was his mechanical eye that glowed silverfish blue. He was wearing a flannel shirt, denim pants, work gloves, and a rough pair of hiking boots. He had black hair tied back and a gruff beard.

"Mind telling me what caused you to almost crush my truck and I?" He asked calmly looking at her.

"Who are you and where am I?" Arcee demanded, trying to get up, but nothing below her neck responded.

"Easy there. Didn't you hear the part about injuries? Take a look." The man said and pointed over his shoulder with a thumb.

Arcee looked and saw her body armor was busted up pretty bad and she could see that she had injuries under her armor. What really caught her eyes was the fact her helmet was sitting off to the side and the spike on it was crushed.

"That wasn't supposed to come off!" She gasped.

"Relax. I know it is part of your head. It was half off when I managed to pull you onto a trailer. Had to carefully remove it to prevent further injuries to your head." The man said quietly as he took off the gloves. "SO what's your name? Can't keep calling you Blue."

Arcee looked at him for a few moments, thinking.

"Arcee." She said with a hint of anger.

"Nice to meet you Arcee. People call me Old Max. You can call me Max." Max said calmly and set the gloves on her stomach gently. "Have to admit your pretty messed up and leaking out energon pretty badly when you landed. Managed to stop the energon leaks, but had to immobilize you in the process.

Arcee's eyes widened in shock as the man mentioned Energon and the fact he immobilized her.

"How do you know about energon and my systems?" She asked stunned.

The man just smiled a friendly smile and patted her stomach softly.

"Don't worry about that. Just know you are in good hands and will be safe here in my shop." Max said smiling. "Let's get you hooked up to some fluids and help your systems recover a bit."

"I can't take any type of fluids but processed energon." Arcee said nervously, as she watched the man move a couple of hoses over and hook them to emergency ports on each side of her neck.

She blinked in shock as she felt energon flow into her.

"Sure it ain't as good as your use to, but it's better than nothing from what I was told." Max said with a nod. "I'm gonna start with your arms and torso, so I can release them as I work my way down. You just relax and think of this as a spa trip for you. Deal?"

Arcee nodded dumbly, still shocked at what this human seemed to know.

At the Auto bots base, Jack was beside himself. He looked up at Optimus Prime who just told him about Arcee's situation.

"Optimus, we have to find her! You just said she was badly injured!" Jack nearly shouted at the towering giant.

"I know Jack. Bumble and Bulkhead were the first cleared and their already out looking for her as we speak. Smokescreen will be joining them as soon as he is cleared. We will find her." Optimus said and looked over at Ratchet. "Have you found her signal yet?"

'Nothing. It is just like she vanished off the planet during the fight. I detected a sudden spike in her vital and then they just vanished." Ratchet said confused.

"As in…?" Jack asked worried.

"No Jack. It is just like she suddenly was put somewhere we can't read her. I can say that when she vanished, she was injured, but alive." Ratchet said calmly and turned to tend to Smokescreen.

Jack turned to Prime trying to control himself.

"What does that mean?" He asked worried.

"That at the moment of us being able to scan her vitals, she was alive and knowing Arcee, she is still probably alive, but we just don't know where."

Jack nodded quietly and turned to walk to the couch to sit. Optimus watched him go and sighed, turning back to the console.

At the shop, Arcee watched as the human named Max carefully climbed up on her torso and with a careful touch, popped open her chest plate.

"A little forward aren't you?" She growled in mild embarrassment.

"I do apologize my dear, but this is the easiest way to check the system that controls your arms. On the outside it looks mostly like cosmetic damage. I just want to make sure there was no damage done internally to them." Max said with a nod and looked up. "Besides, if I was gonna do anything other than check your systems, I would have offered you a dinner and some wine first."

Arcee blinked in disbelief and watched him pick up a tool on the small table next to her. He lowered his head and she heard something click inside her chest.

"Ok, a few minutes to let this tool adapt and run a check. Spark Chamber seems in pristine condition, so no worries. Internal frame in the area looks good. NO serious damage done in here. SO we just wait." He said looking back at her "Again I am sorry for doing stuff like this. All I have are old tools. You can talk to me if you want to pass the time or threaten me with your boyfriend if you want. You wouldn't be the first."

"Where did you learn of my kind?" Arcee blurted out. "I mean you look pretty much human and you're crawling on me, manipulating my bio mechanisms in ways you shouldn't know."

Max nodded and climbed over on the table, carefully taking the tool with him.

"Fair enough question." Max said with a nod and sat on the table. "About ten years ago, I met another of your kind. She was a spunky one. I was part of a special group back then. A black project. It was my duty to learn everything I could about her systems. She was a real spitfire. Her name was Hawk Wing. She was a disguised as an F-16. For some reason she chose me to reveal herself to. She taught me about your kind and how to hunt and process energon."

"You met another Transformer? Ten years ago?" Arcee asked shocked. "Where is she?"

"She isn't with us anymore. Like I said, black project. When she started holding back information about the weaponry, the big wigs started getting pissy about it. One day there was a massive explosion in the energon processor and she shielded me from it. It ripped her apart. I immediately prepared to restore her, being I knew the most about the systems, but I was pulled off the project. Some other guy was put in charge. HE studied her body, not attempting to repair her. He took the remains and ran to the underground." Max said quietly. "I hear he is the head of some paramilitary group called MECH. I left after I heard she was taken. I took remaining pieces of her with me."

He pointed over to a hand carved ornate box that had a padlock on it. Arcee swallowed in shock. She looked at him as he scratched his chin.

"Did she say if she was an Autobot or a Decepticon?" Arcee asked quietly.

"She never said, but she had a symbol like yours." Max said pointing at the Autobot marking.

"I'm sorry for the loss." Arcee said quietly.

"It's the past. I miss her, but not much I can do about it.' Max said quietly.

"Which parts did you keep?" Arcee asked quietly.

Max didn't answer right away. Instead he looked at the machine and nodded.

"Well, Ms. Arcee. IT would appear your systems to your arms and upper chambers seems to be in pretty good shape. Looks like the nanites did patch up a bit of wiring." Max said with a smile and reached in, unhooking the attachments. "Just give me a few minutes and your arms and chest will have feeling again."

Max gently closed the chest plate and walked around to the top of her head. She felt some movements and a sudden charge rush through her arms and upper chest. She carefully moved her arms

"How they feeling?" Max asked stepping around. "OH I haven't reactivated your weapon systems. Not sure if you can handle the energon drain for them just yet. Want to make sure there are no more leaks."

"They feel sore, but that's expected considering I was hit by two rockets." Arcee nodded.

"Well it's getting late. I'll let you rest for the night and we'll work on your lower torso and legs tomorrow. IF things go good, a day or two and you'll be all patched up and good as new, or at least as good as I can make you." Max said with a smile.

Arcee nodded and looked at him as he walked off. She noticed he stopped at the box and gently patted it. He said something quietly and then slipped behind a curtain wall. Arcee's eyes lingered on the box and she then lay back down.

The next day, Jack rushed out of his room at the base and down to the central command.

"Any luck yet?" He asked coming into the room.

"Not yet. Everyone is out looking, but no one has picked up her signal yet." Ratchet said. "And before you say it, yes we did check at the bottom of the cliff. There was an impact crater, but no body."

Jack nodded and slumped down. Ratchet looked over at him.

"Don't give up Jack. Prime will keep looking until he either finds her or her body. He won't stop until he has conformation one way or the other."

"I know." Jack said quietly as Miko and Rafael bridged in.

At the shop, Arcee watched with interest as Max moved around her stomach area. He had popped open plates; she didn't know could be open. She watched as he carefully worked with her internal systems and carefully removed spilled energon.

"So what do you do now for a living?" Arcee asked curious.

"After leaving the project, I wandered around and found this old shop. I do demolition work for the locals. Low grade stuff." Max said as he closed the plates and taped on the old keyboard next to him. He hopped off. "Try sitting up slowly, using your arms."

Arcee slowly pushed herself up. She winced a bit and placed a hand over her stomach.

"That didn't feel good." She grumbled.

"Must be that ding in the last section of systems that work with the frame, for the rib structure. Since I reactivated this section, your nanites will take care of it." Max said with a shrug. "The scans of your legs indicate some system damage, but I don't have the tools here to fix them. Nanites will probably take three or four days to fix them. You have two choices here. Wait it out or I can try to contact your friends out there."

"How do you know I am not the only one?" Arcee asked.

"Simple. You're Scout class. The scouts don't travel alone. There is at least another scout around. Any military organization works like that. Only assassins and spies travel solo." Max said with a shrug.

"If you can get a hold of Ratchet, he can finish me up quickly." Arcee said quietly, not wanting to offend the man that has been helping her.

Max nodded and looked at the screen beside Arcee.

"That should be an easy signal to reproduce" He said calmly and turned to head to a different computer.

Arcee blinked and looked at the computer. Sure enough was the signal to transmit to the base. She blinked and looked at him.

"What else do you know?" She asked shocked.

"You talk in your sleep and apparently your boyfriend's name is Jack." Max said calmly as he typed.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Arcee growled. "He's my partner."

"Cut it how you want." Max chuckled. "You ain't the first bot to have feelings."

At the Autobots base, Jack watched the others return from searching. He could tell by their body language they had no success. Suddenly the screens of the computer lit up. A text message appeared on it. Ratchet read it and blinked in shock.

"I think we found Arcee." He said stunned

In the warship, Soundwave noticed the signal and read it. He stood and walked to the room that Megatron was sitting.

"What is it, Soundwave?" Megatron asked looking at the silent transformer.

The message was displayed on the face plate. Megatron read in and nodded.

"Send Knock Out and Airachnid to eliminate her." Megatron said coldly.

At the shop, Max looked as a reply came and nodded.

"Looks like this Ratchet is gonna do a 'land bridge' about ten miles from here and come in quietly. Not a bad idea, considering the locals here don't know of your kind at all." Max said with a chuckle and turned back to Arcee.

Arcee nodded and looked at her legs.

"I hate being unable to move" She growled in frustration.

"Hold on." Max said and walked into the back of the shop.

After a few minutes, he comes out with a large gutted forklift. He guided it to sit by the table.

"Carefully move into the seat." Max said. "Once you're in and belted in, I'll hook this up to your mind and you can make it roll around."

Arcee looked at it slightly confused, but did as she was told. Max climbed around and large shipping belts were used to create a harness and her feet were carefully strapped to the forks of the lift. Max climbed up and carefully hooked a wire into her head.

"There you go. Just give the order to walk and this will roll around for you. It ain't much, but it's the best I have for now you can roll outside and enjoy the sun if you want. No one comes within a mile of my place." Max said chuckling. "Afraid they might blow up or something."

Suddenly a light began to flash and Max's head snapped around to look at the screen.  
"A large energy spike and it isn't ten miles away. More like a hundred yards." He said with an edge to his voice.

Arcee looked over and blinked. Her eyes narrowed.

"We have home wreckers coming then." She growled "You need to reactivate my weapons."

"Until you are fully patched, that could do more damage to you." Max said looking around. "But I will be damned if I am gonna leave you with out a way to defend yourself."

Arcee watched as he moved to the back of the shop and motioned for her to follow. She did and watched as he pulled a box out. It was a long one and he flipped it open. Arcee noticed that the mechanical eye was glowing brighter now. He reached in and flipped some switches. He pulled out what looked like a large sawed off shotgun and handed it to her.

"Treat her good. It was a gift from Hawk Wing. She taught me how to make it. It has its own energon store and holds a lot more shots than its red neck cousin can. Careful though, it has a bit of a kick." Max said.

Arcee nodded and did a quick check over and tested the sights. Max moved over and pulled out a small box he stuck in his shirt pocket and a sleek rifle.

"Cargo door will open with the push of the blue button. More than enough room for you. I'll go out the front. Two points of defense. IF it ain't your friends, shoot to kill." Max said calmly

"How will you know?" Arcee asked looking at him.

"Real simple. They shoot at me and I shoot back. This is my property and I will be damned if someone is going to mess it up." Max said firmly and Arcee nodded.

Max reached over and pulled out a rough metal hat and placed it over Arcee's head. It looked like a metallic straw hat and Max smirked at the sight, but shook it off as he got serious again.

"Confirm targets and shoot to kill. Whatever you do, stay to the path or I will have to start over repairing you. Understand?" Max asked as he snapped a bolt back on the rifle and Arcee heard it hum to life.

"Understaood." She replied and turned to roll to the large door.

Max jogged to the front door and opened it a crack. HE glanced out and saw several large robot forms approaching the large shop. He stepped out quietly and slipped along the wall. He stopped at the edge of the railing of the porch.

"Mind telling me what you are doing here?" He called out to the strange robots.

Knock Out and Airachnid both spun around at the sound, so did the four Vehicons. Airachnid smiled at the sight of the humn standing holding a rifle.

"Looks like we have a local mountain man to deal with. No problem." Knock Out chuckled.

None of them heard the cargo door slide open without a whisper. Arcee poked her head out and saw the decepticons looking at Max, who seemed awfully calm.

"Either answer my question or I will be required to use force to remove you from my property." Max said calmly and spit on the ground

"Like you have the ability to make us leave, human." Airachnid scoffed.

Unseen to them, the spit touched two wires and completed a circuit. Knock Out walked forward laughing and lowered his face to be level with Max.

"Aside from a nasty habit of spitting, what else are you going to do? Shoot us with a pea shooter?" He chuckled.

"You better get out of my face, rust bucket." Max growled.

"Or what?" Airachnid asked trying not to laugh.

"External defense system pods fifteen though twenty-three, priority one activation." Max said with a smile.

Suddenly the ground under Knock Out's feet exploded upwards in gysers of blue plasma fire, throwing Knock Out acroos the ground, screaming in pain. Max dove off the porch and rolled through the grass. He rolled up to his knee and the rifle swung into firing position in one smooth motion. The blue bolt that shot out, went right through the eye of a stunned Vehicon. A few seconds later, its head exploded as a larger shot came from the side. Arcee pumped the shot gun and took aim again.

"You heard the man. Get off the grass." She growled at a group of stunned Decepticons.

"Kill them!" Airachnid snarled and lunged towards Max as the three Vehicons turned to Arcee and raised their weapons.

Max ran to the side firing at Airachnid. She dodge the shots as she chased after him. In moments she caught him and knocked the rifle from his grip.

"Any last words, pest?" She growled as she began to squeeze.

"Offensive protocol three sixty-five dash Omega! Engage!" Max gasped as she squeezed.

Suddenly his silver eye flashed and black four legged instect like creatures began to pour out of his pocket along Airachnid's hand. She didn't have a chance to react, due to shock of sensing a small energon burst. Her hand suddenly felt like it was on fire as the small creatures began to devour her hand. She quickly dropped Max and began to thrash her hand around, trying to knock the creatures off. She backed up to where Knock out and the two remaining Vehicons were having a shoot out with Arcee, who was hiding behind the wasll of the shop and shooting back. Airachnid stumbled into the and they all fell to the ground. Max grinned.

"Pods fourty-two througheighty! Detonate at forty-five degrees horthwest by west!" Max ordered and his eye flashed silver again.

A few seconds later, the ground under the tangle pile of Decepticons exolode, launching them in a high arc back into the woods. Arcee and Max took shooting spots and kept firing at them, as they heard loud engines approaching. The Decepticons looked up and quickly retreated into the woods, shortly followed by the sound of a land bridge opening and closing. Max whistled loudly and Arcee watched as a small black mass of insect like robots crawled up his leg and wrapped around his arm. Max then spun around and had his rifle aimed at the approaching cars. The large green humvee skidded to a stop.

"Max wait! These are my team!" Arcee called out and Max held his shot. "Max, can you make the grounds safe?"

Max remained quietly as he saw other vehicles pull up beside the humvee. He waited for a second as Arcee's words went through his head and he finally relaxed. The rifle lowered.

"External defense deactivate." He said and his eye flashed again. "There, its safe."

Arcee rolled out and stopped beside Max. The doors of the humvee opened and Meko and Jack jumped out. Max watched as the humvee transformed into Bulkhead. Ratchet and Prime where there as well. Max looked at them and at Arcee. She nodded. Meko stopped and looked at Arcee.

"Hillbilly robots? That's awesome!" She blurted out and used her phone to get a picture. "Where's the moonshine?"

"In the back and you don't get to touch it." Max said as he looked at the group. "Which ever of you is Rachet, all you have left is her leg systems."

He turned and walked back into the shop.

"Is it just me or is he pretty calm for what he just saw?" Bulkhead asked looking around

Arcee turned and rolled back through the cargo door, with Rachet behind her.

"Max? You alright?" She asked.

She spotted him at a table with his shirt off She saw bloody marks where Airachnid's claws slip as she dropped him. He was whipping blood off and checking them.

"Damn it. Looks like I will have to do stitches." He sighed and looked at Arcee. "I thought you would have headed out to get your legs fixed."

"I had to return this." Arcee said and set the gun down. "You look pretty bad. You need help."

"In more ways than you know." Maxx sighed and wiped off more blood.

Ratchet stopped in his tracks as his sensor picked up something. He looked at Max shocked.

"I can't believe it!" He whispered stunned, as the others came in.

"What?" Prime asked.

"He has energon in his system!" Ratchet said stunned

Max nodded and looked at Meko.

"Young lady, behind you is a first aid kit. Would you hand it here?" Max asked quietly.

Meko looked behind her and found a silver box with a red cross on it. She picked it up and handed it to him.

"Those look bad. Maybe my mom should look at them." Jack suggested.

"He's right Max. Those look bad and you are bleeiding a lot." Arcee said. "Come to our base and June can patch you up. She'll probably keep you around to make sure you are alright."

"I'm not leaving her unprotected." Max said quietly.

"Who? If it is a friend of yours and they know of us,…" Optimus Prime said gently.

"She's dead." Max said quietly.

"Who?" Ratchet asked getting irritated, seeing two medical problems.

"An Autobot he met ten years ago. Hawk Wing." Arcee said gently. "She taught him about our kind and that is why he was able to do most of the repairs on me."

"Hawk Wing?" Optimus and Ratchet both said stunned.


	2. Old Blood

Old Blood

At the reaction of the two larger Autobots, Max watched them closely, as he felt the blood running down his sides in small streaks. He glanced at the rifle using his outer vision and Arcee noticed it.

"Max, their friends. It sounds like they knew your friend. I can vouch they aren't here to hurt you." She said quietly. "They want to help you."

Max looked at her and then back at the two Autobots. Optimus Prime nodded.

"If you knew Hawk Wing then you are an ally, since it sounds like she taught you. We should get your wounds tended to while you are still able to move. If Hawk Wings remains are here, I ask that you please bring them with us."

Max's eyes narrowed as he watched the large red Autobot called Optimus Prime. He could see the worried look on Arcee and the two teen agers. He felt himself losing blood. With a sigh he nodded.

"The hand carved chest over there. It contains parts of her, not all of her. Let me wrap this up and try to slow the bleeding." He said quietly and took the pack from Miko.

Optimus Prime nodded and motioned for Bulkhead to pick up the box. Bulkhead walked over and looked at the small box. Jack and Miko looked over.

"I'll get it Bulk." Miko said and ran over.

She picked the box up and almost fell over, before catching herself and nodding. Max did a quick wrapping around her upper body and looked around. Ratchet was trying to not have a heart attack at the set up hooked to Arcee's mind. He looked at Max.

"Can you please unhook this… contraption from her?" He said impatiently.

Max walked over and slowly climbed up on the side. A few seconds later, Arcee was unhooked and was soon being held up by Optimus Prime

"Bulkhead, transform and carry the humans. The one who helped Arcee isn't in shape to walk." Optimus said and looked at Max. "How far are we from the others you spoke of?"

"About a mile or so. IF we go now, we should be gone before they get the nerve to come here." Max said leaning against the side of the modified forklift.

Bulkhead moved to the entrance and transformed. Jack helped Max into the humvee and Miko set the box with him. Max put an arm over it, protectively. Prime took notice of this and nodded...

"BumbleBee, open the bridge." He called over his communicator.

A few minutes later, Max was sitting on the chair with June checking over his wounds. Her kit was sitting beside on the table.

"These are deep Mister Max. I'm surprised you haven't bled out more." She said as she prepared the stitches. "I'll use a local to help with the pain.

"Don't worry about it. Pain is nothing new to me. Just stitch me up and save the numbing for the teens." Max said quietly.

June's eyes narrowed slightly.

"We don't need a macho man gasping in pain…." She said and Max looked at her.

"Miss Darby, I don't have anything to prove to you or anyone else here. I know what this body can handle and what it can't. I don't need anything to dull the pain. Just please stitch it up." He said softly.

June just shrugged and began to stitch up the wounds. Miko and Jack were watching stunned.

"Dude, he has to be like at least forty and he isn't even flinching at being stitched up!" Miko gasped. "Now this is an iron man!"

Ratchet walked out of the medical area and nodded to Jack.

"She's fine. Yes you can talk to her and yes she can walk. She's just resting." He said gruffly and jack nodded, heading into the medical area.

Ratchet walked over and stood with Optimus and looked at Max.

"He isn't moving at all while being stitched. Did June use a lot of numbing?" Ratchet asked curious.

"He didn't let her use any on him." Optimus said quietly.

"Not a surprise really. He has energon in his system. I'm trying to understand why it hasn't fried him yet and that eye of his too." Ratchet said as he watched June finish.

"If he was around Hawk Wing that would explain a lot of your questions." Optimus said with a small nod.

Max waited until June handed him the bloody shirt he wore in. He carefully moved his torso to test his range of movement and nodded.

"Thank you." Max said with a nod as he slid the shirt on.

"Just be careful. Those where deep and I had to put stitches on the inside as well. They shouldn't tear easy, but I don't enjoy the thought of having to stitch you up again for something stupid." She said firmly.

"Agreed. I will try and be careful." Max said and stood up.

"I would also suggest a cleaner shirt. We don't need you get an infection either." June commented as she picked up her kit.

Max nodded and turned to the two larger Autobots He found it interesting that the one called Optimus Prime sent the others on patrol as soon as they got back.

"So can I go home or did I step into another major problem and have to vanish?" He asked calmly.

"I would like to ask you some questions, if you feel your place of residence is safe enough." Optimus asked calmly.

"Everything of importance is here." Max said and crossed his arms. "So go ahead and ask."

"How do you know Hawk Wing?" Prime asked straight to the point.

"She was discovered by me eleven years ago. A year later, she was put into Black Project standing with me being in charge. Several years later, an energon container exploded. She shield me by was killed in doing so." Max said.

"Then why are you so protective of the remains you have in that box." Ratchet asked bluntly.

"She was a good friend of mine. We grew… close over the years. It's all I have to remind myself of her." Max said quietly.

"May we see the remains to confirm her identity?" Prime asked quietly.

Max looked at the box and sighed. It was clear he was at war with his emotions, but he kept it in check. With a swallow he nodded and moved to the large box. He tapped the wood and a panel flipped open, revealing a keypad and thumb pad. He tapped a few keys and pressed his right thumb to it. A few seconds later the top hissed and popped open. Max stepped back and grabbed Miko's shoulder as she tried to dash forward to see it. When she glared at him, his eyes locked with hers and to everyone's surprise, she backed down and backed further from the box. Optimus stepped forward and knelt down. He carefully reached in and pulled out a transformer head that was easy to tell it was feminine. Optimus stayed there quiet, as he looked at the head and carefully, almost tenderly, set it back in the box and stood up. When he spoke, he sounded different, almost said.

"Thank you, Max. It is Hawk Wing." He said quietly and turned to Max. "For your own safety, I would like you to stay here. You fought the Decepticons and they know of you. KNockOut and Airachnid aren't the forgetting kind. As a friend of the Autobots, it is our duty to protect you."

The room fell silent as his words sounded out. Arcee and Jack stopped in the door as they came back into the central area.

"As a friend to the Autobots?" Arcee asked.

"Anyone that Hawk Wing was willing to reveal herself to; I have always counted among the Autobots friends and allies." He said and looked into Max's eyes. "I hope you do not betray her name."

"Then don't make me." Max said quietly and Optimus nodded. "Does this mean I stay here?"

Optimus Prime looked at June. She tapped her lips.

"I do have a spare room I can let him use; under the conditions he does not cause any problems at or around my home. It isn't a large room, barely big enough for a twin bed desk and small dresser." She said and looked at Max. It will take a day or two to clear it out. We would have to pass you off as my husband's brother or something."

Max nodded in appreciation and looked at Optimus Prime.

"Until the room is ready, you will stay here. There are rooms here. IF you wish, you may stay here. I do ask that Hawk Wing's remains stay here though."

Max sighed and looked at the box. Optimus Prime kneeled beside the man and barely touched his shoulder with a large finger.

"You have protected her well over the years. You don't have to shoulder this anymore alone. Let us help you."

Before Max could say anything a door slammed opened and Agent Fowler stormed in.

"Prime! What is the meaning of there being….!" Fowler demanded and stopped in mid step and word at the sight of Max.

Max's eyes narrowed dangerously at the sight of Fowler. Their fists immediately clenched and rose up.

"You bastard!" Fowler growled.

"I swore I would kill you Fowler for your actions!" Max snarled.

"Whenever you want to, old man." Fowler growled.

To everyone's surprised shock, Max took off running right at Fowler. When he reached Fowler, it was like a change occurred. Gone was the soft spoken man that Max showed. In its place was a fighting machine. Fowler didn't back down, but it quickly became clear he was out classed, as the right hand of Max smashed into Fowler's face, launching him back and Max went with him, fist and feet striking in precision strikes at the old ranger. The sounds of impact sounded in the room and echoed off the walls as Fowler fought back. Prime and Ratchet both ran forward, each grabbing a man and pulling them away from each other.

"Max! Don't do it!" Arcee suddenly shouted as she saw the flash in Max's robot eye.

"Wow! Let them go at it! Old man combat!" Miko shouted excitedly, only to get a cold glare from Jack and June, before quieting down.

Optimus walked over and set Max on the floor near June. It showed the stitches had blown out some. Ratchet set Fowler down and looked at Max with curiosity. Max's eye flashed again and he seemed to calm down.

"Hawk Wing's remain s are not staying here with that bastard around. He'd take them back to the projects." Max said flatly.

"I see you two know each other." Arcee commented.

"Yeah we worked together on the Project a little bit." Fowler said as he wiped some blood from a busted lip.

"So you both knew Hawk Wing?" Optimus asked looking at Fowler.

"Not really. She stayed away from me and stayed around that old man there. Then she got killed in that explosion and he goes ballistic over it. I was ordered to remove him from the project."

"Yeah great job there. The man you put in my place stole her body and technology and ran off with it, you CIA lap dog!" Max suddenly snarled. "After you caused the explosion that killed her!"

June placed herself in front of Max, hoping she would be enough to stop him. The tension grew in the room. June had a front row seat to see in Max's eyes. She saw rage, pain, and loss in that human eye.

"Max, please sit down. You ripped your stitches. I have to check the damage." She said as she gently set her hand on his shoulder. "You are losing blood again. I might have to give you a transfusion."

Max didn't even hear her. His eyes were locked on Fowler. His muscles begin to tense and June felt it. She was amazed at the muscle tone under the man's skin. She hadn't noticed it before, with his shirt off, but she was feeling it now.

"Max!" She shouted at him and caught his attention. "Sit down now. You promised to try and not tear your stitches. I have to check them. Sit now."

Max's body softened slightly and she pushed him into the chair again.

"Jack, prepare the kit with a thicker strand for stitches. Go twice the thickness." June said as she began to pull the shirt off.

To her surprise, what she saw didn't match what she felt. She knelt down and began wiping off the blood. Her hunch was right. She saw torn flesh and stitches hanging loose. She didn't even ask about the numbing and quickly began to stitch Max's side again, as Jack helped to hold up his arm. Max's eyes never lost sight of his target. Fowler sat in a chair and watched June working on him. Optimus Prime walked over and looked down at Max.

"Max, I wish you would leave her remains here. I give you my word that Fowler will not touch them. Please." Optimus said quietly.

Max looked up at him and sighed again.

"Very well. I can't do anything for her anymore." He said with a hint of defeat.

Fowler raised an eyebrow in surprise. He stood up and quietly walked across the room. Miko jumped up and moved to block his path.

"Not now Miko." Fowler said gruffly.

He walked up and waited until June was done. Once she stood up, Fowler motioned Jack to move his mom. Max looked up and saw Fowler standing there, bleeding out of his nose, a busted lip that was swollen and a bruised jaw.

"You were trying to. Weren't you?" Fowler asked quietly. "You didn't give up after all this time?"

Max slowly stood up and turned away.

"Why's it matter to you? You caused the explosion that killed her." Max said growling, but keeping himself in check.

"I hooked those tubes up like you showed me. I didn't cause the explosion. I see you have your right arm back too. Her training?" Fowler said gruffly.

Max nodded and turned to Fowler.

"What do you want Fowler?" Max snarled. "It's bad enough the man who caused the explosion that killed her is standing right in front of me, but I will be damned if I am gonna sit here and be drilled by you. "

Fowler stood there quietly for a moment.

"Let's put it behind us and move on. We have larger problems to tend with now instead of our pasts." Fowler said quietly.

"The only thing I will agree to is not trying to kill you on sight. Just stay away from me and only talk to me when you have no other choice. Clear?" Man hissed and walked away. "May I have someone show me to the room I am supposed to use while I am here?"

Jack and Miko both nodded and went with the man to show him to his room. Optimus gently picked up the box and handed it to Ratchet. The box was carried into Ratchet's medical and the door shut behind him

"Agent Fowler, I believe you had some questions for me. Let us go talk now." Optimus said and turned to walk to the control area.

Arcee walked over to where June was and knelt down, to talk quiet to her.

"What do you make of all this?" Arcee asked quietly.

"Max isn't a normal human anymore. I can tell that. His body looks like a man in his forties, but the muscle tone I felt while pushing him back was that of a twenty year old in perfect health." June said quietly and looked at Arcee. "Did you know this Hawk Wing?"

"No, she was before my time. The war had started and had already started spilling into space when I came about." Arcee whispered quietly. "But there is more here than meets the eye. Even a blind person can see t hat."

June nodded in agreement and picked up her case.

"Can you open the land bridge for me? I have to start working on that room for him." June said quietly.

Arcee nodded and they walked to the land bridge controls.

That night.

Ratchet looked at the remains. There was a perfectly preserved head and a spark chamber, as well as a fore arm with hand.

"What can you tell me, old friend?" Optimus Prime asked walking into the medical room.

"It is her. The CAN in these parts matched hers perfectly. No question about it." Ratchet said with a nod. "What's interesting is the fact that there is a small amount of energon that has kept her memories from dying off. Same with her spark."

"She's alive?" Optimus Prime asked stunned

"More like what the human's described as a coma. I'm guessing that this Max set it up and it is a bit of genius work here. This set up could keep her in this state for easily another fifty years."

"Do you think Agent Fowler meant…" Optimus Prime asked quietly.

"That Max was trying to find a way to rebuild her?" Ratchet asked. "It is very possible. He knows enough about us, but there isn't enough human technology to pull it off. Not even enough to steal one of our bodies and swap us for her. I think that is why he gave it to you."

"She was an amazing Autobot. She loved gathering information and had some cutting edge experiments that she supervised before the war started. She came up with the ability to use proto forms to do cloning during the Golden Ages. The Gladiators worshipped her, because she was always willing to give them the chance to try something new in the arena, once it was proven to be safe to use."

"Weapons safe to use? That's an oxymoron, Optimus." Ratchet chuckled.

"She also made them armors and designed modifications to their bodies. She made Megatron's body for him to become the Greatest of the gladiators. He still uses that body to this day." Optimus said with a sigh.

"Optimus, there is enough CAN here to use if we can find some proto-forms. We would only need one." Ratchet said quietly.

"I do not know how Max would react to her being alive again. The humans have varying views of the dead, but they all agree on not desecrating the dead. He might see it as that." Optimus said quietly.

"Optimus, you heard what Fowler said. He all but said Max was trying to bring her back to life and these set ups support that. Besides…." Ratchet said and quietly stopped.

"Besides what, Ratchet?" Optimus asked looking at his old friend.

"That last warship we found had the tubes and two spare proto-forms in it." Ratchet said.

"Keep this quiet Ratchet." Optimus said quietly and walked out of the room.


	3. Talks

Talks

Max followed June through the halls of her house. She opened the door to a room and stepped back. Max peeked in at the small room and nodded. He steps back and looks at her.

"Thank you Ms. Darby. It is a good place. Are you sure you are comfortable with me staying here?" Max asked looking at her.

"I want to talk to you about that actually." She said as she walked past him and motioned for him to follow.

They walked down the hall and to the kitchen table. She motioned for him to sit at the table and walked over to the coffee pot.

"Would you like some coffee?" She asked as she poured herself a glass.

"IF you have enough." Max said with a nod and she quickly poured a second cup.

She placed the cups on the table and sat across from Max.

"I want to know why you attacked Agent Fowler like that." She said firmly and took a sip.

"It's a long story with a lot of painful memories." Max said quietly and took a small drink.

"That may be true, but he is a friend of mine." June said quietly, but firmly.

Max sighed and nodded quietly. He took a small drink and set his cup down. He looked into it was quiet for a few moments.

"I suppose if you are going to trust me, you should know about me more." He said and stood up and turned.

June watched him. She could see the pain in his eyes. She quietly waited. Max walked over to a window and looked out at the early afternoon.

"I worked with Agent Fowler on a black project." He said quietly, but loud enough she could hear him.

"By black project you mean…?" She asked softly.

"Their projects that even all of the government doesn't know about. A lot of them are controlled by the Department of Defense, to create items to reinforce our armies or national security." Max explained as he turned to look at June. "Their hidden from the general public, because they may or may not pass certain moral options. Please don't ask me to explain more about them."

"Fair enough. Their dark secrets that the Department of Defense wants to keep quiet and in the closet. I can understand that." June said with a nod.

"Thank you. Well, Fowler and I were working together on one that involved a new alien life form discovered. That was Hawk Wing. We spent years working with her and learning stuff from her. We both developed friendships with her. She liked picking on Fowler for being so devoted to the higher ups and never questioning their orders." Max said and quietly began to pace some.

"And you did question them?" June asked curious.

"Not at first, but after six months around her, I did start." Max said with a nod and stopped in front of the window. "After ten years we had a working energon processor and she made sure we had it working right. We were about to start working on ways to use it as an alternate energy source at the time, before the explosion occurred."

"So why do you say Fowler caused the explosion?" June asked watching him.

She saw his muscle tense slightly and his jaw set firmly. She watched him fight his anger down, before answering her.

"I had asked him to check the flow tubes. Hawk Wing had informed us that the energon would explode if it came into contact with electricity or flame. He walked over and was behind the machine for several minutes. He came back out and said it all checked out fine. Not even a minute later, there was an arcing sound and the entire machine and storage tanks went off like a warhead. Hawk Wing was the only one able to react fast enough and she chose to shield me. It cost her, her life." Max said quietly and his shoulders slumped. "I knew it shouldn't have taken that long to do a quick check."

He quietly walked over and sat at the table, taking another drink.

"It could have been accident." June said quietly.

"I thought that at first, until I received word I w as being removed from the project. It was decided that I was to close and that it could become personal, at the review of Agent Fowler." Max said quietly

"That's when you took the pieces you could find?" June asked softly.

"I took sealed cases that I prepared, before I was told I was going to be removed from the project. I ran into Fowler on the way out. He had a gun on me and saw the cases I was carrying. He looked me in the eyes and stepped aside. I started past him and he just watched me go." Max said quietly.

"He let you go?" June asked stunned.

"Yeah. The looks in his eyes showed he hated doing it, but he had to follow orders. I never found out who did it, but I know he was ordered to let me go." Max said quietly.

He was about to say something else, but Max suddenly grabbed his right arm and his jaw clenched in pain. The arm began to spasm and his left arm was having trouble holding it still. As June watched, the arm began to turn a dark red and kept growing darker. Max suddenly fell from the chair, thrashing in pain. The muscles on his neck corded up as he held back a scream of intense pain. June rushed around the table and was beside him in a heartbeat. Her medical training had already kicked in and was doing preliminary examination.

"Max! What is happening?!" She said as she began to check his arm and found skin starting to split on the upper arm.

To her horror shock, what began to leak out the tears wasn't blood. It was energon.

"Fow…ler!" Max snarled through clenched teeth. "Get… him!"

June grabbed her cell phone and hit Fowler's number. IT only rang once and was picked up.

"Fow-"Fowler started and was cut off.

"Fowler, something is happening to Max! His right arm is seizing up and tearing its skin open. Energon is leaking out!" June said as she felt panic start to form in her mind.

"Get him to Ratchet now!" Fowler said and hung up.

Just then, Jack came through the door and stooped at the sight of his mom kneeling over Max's thrashing body. She looked up at him.

"Help me get him to Ratchet! Now!" She ordered and Jack moved.

Seconds later, they came through the land bridge into Autobot base. BumbleBee was waiting and scooped Max up, carrying him quickly into the medical area. June followed She saw Fowler was there as well.

"What's going on!?" She demanded as she came through.

"I'd like to know myself!" Ratchet snapped back.

"Just drain the container in his right shoulder and stabilize him first!" Fowler said

An hour later…

Max is unconscious on a medical bed, with an IV in his left arm. His right shoulder is open, revealing mechanical systems under it. Everyone was gathered in the room and looked up as Optimus Prime waked through, having just returned from patrol.

"What happened here?" He asked as he came in.

"IT apparently turned out that old Max here is some form of terminator apparently." Miko said excitedly as she looked at the shoulder. "Check this out!"

Prime moved over and knelt down. He carefully examined the shoulder and looked at Ratchet, as he stood back up.

"That looks like a bio-mechiniod system, somewhat similar to our own." Optimus said looking at the others and waited for an explanation.

"According to scans, it is. Only built from earth based materials and the skin is synthetic. There was a container that contained energon in it and there is also a processing port in his rib cage to control it and work as an interface with his body." Ratchet said and looked at Fowler. "We were waiting for you to come back for the explanation"

Fowler nodded and looked at Max on the bed.

"Max lost his entire right shoulder and arm during the explosion. Right before the explosion, Hawk Wing had showed us schematics to create replacement body parts and how to use energon to power them. The Higher ups didn't want to use energon on people that got them. I persuaded the doctors to use it on Max, but it was a clumsy piece of junk they made. When Max left, I let him get away and among the things he took was the schematics, or at least a copy of them. I noticed he had a more effective arm when he punched me a couple of days ago. That told me he made a better arm and attached it to the joint mechanism in there. I guess he found a way to process energon to keep powering it. The problem apparently is that he didn't do much maintenance on his arm." Fowler said with a shrug. "Not like him though."

"He told me he had a way to process energon and was giving me some while he worked on me." Arcee said with a nod. "During the fight with the Cons, Airachnid had him in a tight grip and was crushing his arms. He activated something and a mass of black four legged insect like creatures crawled out onto Airachnid's arm and attacked her."

"IT might have sustained damage and just took time to surface." Miko suggested and looked back at the arm.

Fowler turned and looked at Ratchet.

"Among those boxes he had us take out of that shop is the schematics. Can you build him an arm if we find it?" He asked.

"Probably, but after what he did to you, do you really want him to have that arm back?" Ratchet said looking at him.

Fowler nodded.

"I have my reasons." Fowler replied.

"It is going to take time, but if I have the schematics I can." Ratchet said with a nod.

Fowler looked at Miko, Jack, and Rafael.

"I want you three to go through those boxes and be careful. God only knows what he has made in his time away." Fowler said and the three nodded.

"I'll go with them." Arcee said. "I know he had a good shotgun. I used it."

The small group took off. Optimus looked down at Fowler.

"How much does he know of our kind?" Optimus asked.

"Hawk Wing taught us both a lot about your kind. Max always had the better memory. He is a walking fountain of info about you guys." Fowler said with a nod. "He should be kept somewhere we he can be kept an eye on."

"Ms. Darby, do you feel you can keep an eye on him pretty well at your home?" Optimus asked looking at June.

"Sure I can. The only time I won't be able to is while I am at work." June said with a nod.

"Understood." Prime said with a nod.

An hour later…

Max slowly opened his left eye and blinked.

"Damn that hurt." He muttered.

Miko popped into his field of vision, smiling.

"You didn't tell us you have a terminator's arm! That is so cool! Did you ever crush a steel bar or someone's skull? Mayb-"She said excitedly.

"Miko!" Ratchet called at her from his work area.

"Right. Sorry about that." She said quietly.

"It is alright. Wait, what?!" Max said and tried to sit up.

He felt the dead weight on his right side and looked at it.

"Easy there!" Miko said and tried to push him down in the bed. "Relax. You're alright now."

"Max calm down. They know." Fowler said as he walked up.

Max's eye locked on him and his left hand clenched into a fist, but Miko was soon hanging on it, holding it down.

"He told us how to help you!" She snapped as she held onto the fist.

The arm lowered and Miko sighed.

"What did you tell them?" Max said coldly.

"How you got your arm and how to fix it. Apparently, from what Arcee told us, Airachnid damaged your arm when she squeezed you." Fowler said. "The internal lines apparently were damaged and broke after a bit. At least that is what Ratchet said."

Max's head dropped onto the pillow.

"God, I bet I scared the hell out of Ms. Darby." He groaned.

"She was a little freaked out about you bleeding energon. It was bad enough we had to drain the supply tank you had in there." Fowler said with a nod.

"How bad is it?" Max asked and looked at his arm.

That was when he saw the arm was gone and there were cable attached to the joint of his shoulders.

"That bad." He groaned and laid back.

"Miko, can you give us a few minutes alone." Fowler said looking at her.

"Uh sure. Hey Max want something to eat? Fowler gets us all kinds of munchies." She asked and Max couldn't help but chuckle.

"Sure thing I guess." He said ad Miko nodded.

She quickly jogged out the large door and Fowler watched her go. He turned back to Max.

"What is it?" Max asked.

"I got something to show you. I'm going to show it to you at normal speed and then at a slower speed. Tell me what you see." Fowler said and set a small laptop on Max's chest, where he could see it.

He hit a few buttons and footage from the lab showed up on the screen. It shows a younger Fowler behind the machine working on it. He walked around and said something to someone off camera. About a minute later, the machine arcs blue energy and explode.

"Yeah it is the machine you blew up and killed Hawk Wing with." Max growled.

"Think for a second. That machine ran on energon because electricity would have set it off, right?" Fowler said as he punched a couple of buttons.

"Yeah I know that. You placed something to create the electricity." Max said bluntly.

"Just watch and shut up." Fowler snapped and hit the play button again.

The footage ran slower this time. Fowler left the screen and during the minute, a shadow moved behind the machine. A hand blinked into view and vanished in less than a second. Then the machine exploded.

"What was that?" Max demanded as his eye narrowed.

"That was sabotage." Fowler said.

He punched a button the footage backed up. IT stopped on the split second the hand was there. A few keys were punched and the screen zoomed in. The hand was female and there was symbol around the wrist that showed.

"First of all, the only female in the room that we knew of was Hawk Wing." Fowler said as he leaned against the side of the bed.

"And second?" Max asked quietly.

"That symbol is well known to us now. IT is the symbol of MECH." Fowler said quietly. "SO I do owe you an ass kicking for a couple of days ago, but that can wait. Do you understand what this means?"

"MECH wanted to shut down the project." Max whispered as it sunk in.

"Yeah, there was a mole and MECH found out about the project. They had something to allow someone to blend in and sent an agent in to destroy the facility in a way that would kill Hawk Wing. Then take over the project."

"That doesn't explain why you advised I should be removed from the project." Max said looking at him.

Fowler tapped the shoulder joint.

"That is why. We had used Hawk Wing's info to replace your arm, remember?" Fowler said. "The higher ups wanted to have you be studied as well. The only way was to get you off the project, but they had nothing they could use. I put the suggestion there and they took it. I was sent to retrieve you and if you remember right, I let you go with those parts."

Max nodded and remained quiet as he looked at the image. Fowler reached over and shut the laptop off.

"You never saw this, understand?" Fowler said firmly. "I don't expect an apology from you. Just quit blaming me and wanting to kill me. All I am going to ask is that you help these bots out in their war. No human knows as much about them as you do. I don't want to hear you attacking them for any reason. You saw the real enemy already and their leader is a lot worse. Do we have a deal?"

Max reached out with his left arm and shook Fowler's hand.

"Take me off the grid. Tell them you found me dead, without the arm and create the files to make it work." Max said quietly.

"And what makes you think I can do that?" Fowler asked with a smirk.

"Because you are CIA and you guys make everyone disappear." Max said and looked over as Miko came in with slices of summer sausage and crackers on a plate in one hand and a six pack of cola in the other.

She hopped on the side of the bed by the two men and set the plate on Max's stomach. She popped a can open and set it on the table by him. She then started stacking the meat on the crackers. She picked one up and looked at the other two.

"Go ahead and dig in." She said grinning.

Later that day.

Bulkhead and Miko were talking off to a side, while Optimus Prime, Ratchet, and Arcee talked.

"Do you think you can bring her back with what you have?" Arcee asked stunned.

"There is enough CNA to work with. I did examine the information and the vehicle pattern she picked for her vehicle mode was corrupted. I removed the damage, but couldn't save the pattern. She'll have to choose another vehicle mode." Ratchet said quietly.

"I'm worried about how Max will react to her return. I do not know if he will think of it as desecrating the dead." Prime said quietly. "Have you started on his arm yet, Ratchet?"

"Yes. I will have it built by tomorrow morning if I work through the night. Strangely Miko offered to help to install it. I believe her hands are the right size though." Ratchet said calmly.

"Miko? Install a mechanical arm? That sounds more like Rafael's spot." Arcee chuckled.

"HE will be helping talk her through it, but he seemed too squeamish to actually do the attaching himself. What do we do about the fear of his reaction of her returning?"

"Just patch him up and I will take him on a patrol one day, instead of Jack and we will talk." Arcee said with a shrug.

Prime looked at her and nodded.

On the other side, Bulkhead was listening to Miko.

"You should have seen it Bulk! His skin had ripped down the side of his right arm and it was all mechanical under the skin!" She said excitedly. "It was so cool! He even had energon powering it I get to help reattach the new arm for him. Ratchet said he can't make synthetic skin, so Max will be walking around here looking like the Terminator in that movie I showed you, where he cut the skin off his arm."

"Really? Mechanical?" BulkHead said amazed. "And he carried energon in his body? I thought the human system didn't work well with energon."

"He had a container that the energon sat in. Kind of like a fuel tank.' Miko said as she looked up at the giant Wrecker. "You should talk to him some. He seems pretty cool."

"I will when he is feeling better. For right now, I have to get ready for patrol. You coming?" Bulkhead said as he got up.

"Hell yeah! Off roading here we come!" Miko said smiling.

Evening

June walked into the medical area carrying a small box. She pulled a table over and sat in a chair by Max.

"How are you feeling?" She asked quietly.

"Sore, but alive. I'm sorry for scaring you earlier I guess I should have told you." Max said as he leaned against the stack of pillows Miko set up for him. "Are you alright?"

"Just a few gray hairs now, but yeah." June chuckled. "I brought you some real food for dinner. I figured it would help you feel better."

She opened the box and pulled out some sandwiches made from roast beef and a couple of bottle of juice. She opened a bottle and unwrapped a sandwich for him.

"There you are. It isn't much, but it should help you out until you get up again." She said smiling and took a sandwich herself. "So any other parts of you that are mechanical we need to worry about?"

Max chuckled and took a bite of the sandwich. They both turned as Arcee walked in.

"Hi June. Hey Max." She said as she walked up and looked down at them. "Hope you're feeling better."

"I am thanks to you guys." Max said with a nod.

"How would you like to go on patrol once you get the all clear, with me? Optimus suggested that if you are going to be a part of this team, I should start teaching you some of what we do." Arcee said with a smile. "It will be a two day patrol, if you are up to it."

"Let's see if I get a clean bill of health first. " Max said chuckling.

Arcee nodded and walked off into the base. Max watched her go and looked at June with a raised eyebrow.

"Part of the team? Did I miss something?" He asked quietly.

June swallowed her bite and took a quick drink.

"The Team decided to add you to the group. There were a couple of reasons. You know a lot about cybertonian physiology. You also are a trained soldier at one time. As you see, there is only Fowler, myself and three kids helping them. I help with medical when I need to. Fowler helps them with running as a liaison between them and the government. The kids try to help them out, but I worry about their safety when they go out with the others. You have a lot to offer. OF course they won't make you join if you don't want to, but I personally believe you could be a huge assistance to them." June said quietly.

Max took a bit and thought what June said.

"Jack is your son, right?" He asked after swallowing. "Who are the parents to Miko and Rafael?"

"Rafael's parents are an older couple with several kids. Miko lives with host parents, seeing that she is from Japan. I don't think she really likes them all that much. She's probably to wild for them." June said quietly. "Why?"

"Does Rafael or Miko's parents know about this?" Max asked quietly.

"No. Miko's parents probably are too afraid to ask and Rafael is hiding it from his parents. Apparently if they knew what he was doing, they'd freak and ground him for life, according to Rafael." June said quietly.

Max nodded and watched as Miko and Jack skated around in the main area on roller blades.

"So you are worried about them being exposed to so much. A story I know well." Max said and quietly ate his sandwich.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys. Just wanted to write adn thank everyone for reveiws. Love the enthusiam I received from some of you. I also appreciate those of you that took the time to point out little typos. THnak you much for that. I do enjoy reading the responses and they do influnce a bit. So please keep the comments coming and don't be afriad to throw PMs either. I also apologize for taking so long on updating. Dealing with health issues as i type. Thank you. 


	5. Baptism through Fire

Baptism through Fire

Max gritted his teeth and his eyes squeezed shut as the nerves connected to the new arm.

"Now make sure the black wire is hooked in that socket I showed you, Miko." Ratchet said.

Miko nodded and quickly attached the wire. She yelped as there was a slight burst of energy and Max gasped in pain and cut of a scream. Rafael watched and quickly typed on his laptop. Max's teeth grit harder and his back arched as he felt the energy course through his body as the wiring adapted.

"Now what?" Miko asked worried as she stepped back to avoid the spark.

"One second." Rafael said s he typed furiously. "Routing commands to attach tank and reroute energy draw."

Max finally couldn't help it and the scream of absolute pain ripped from his lungs and echoed off the walls. Miko flinched and June instinctively stepped forward, but stopped herself, as Max collapsed on the bed, panting.

"Max?" Miko asked worried.

Max lifted his left hand and gave a thumb up signal. His mechanical arm lifted and rotated slowly. Each finger slowly extended and folded down into a fist, as Max moved it through basic movements.

"God I hate connecting those. Will admit it is easier with help." Max said as he wiped his sweaty forehead and slowly sat up.

"Careful with that arm. It isn't made out of the standard materials of this world and the circuitry is working at a hundred percent now." Ratchet said as he watched. "Before you were only working at about forty percent."

"Understood. Was the pressure pads placed back on to help regulating pressure?" Max asked looking up at the old medic.

"Not your design, but we did apply a more sensitive model on your palm and fingers." Ratchet said with a nod.

Miko slipped over and was looking at the steel arm. She tapped the elbow and smiled excitedly. She frowned at the small scorch marks and quickly wiped them away with t he cloth. Max just watched her with a raised eyebrow and shook his head.

"Miko, as long as it works, I'm not too worried about how it looks. Probably going to paint it a matted black anyways." Max chuckled as he hopped off the table. "So what does the read outs say?"

Everyone turned to Rafael and waited as he scanned the readings. He grinned and looked up.

"One hundred percent efficiency." He said grinning.

Miko sighed and smiled.

"That was a rush!" She said grinning. "I can't believe you did that alone with your last arm."

"This went a lot easier." Max said with a nod and looked at Ratchet. "So am I cleared?"

"The arm reads to be working just fine. As for the rest of you, you have to ask Ms. Darby." Ratchet said and looked at June, who was walking over with her medical bag.

She quickly checked all of his vitals and looked for any burning along the skin. She stepped back and nodded.

"All good from what I can tell." She said with a nod.

Max nodded and pulled a shirt on, covering the shoulder joint. He pulled his hat on and nodded again.

"Looks like I'm ready to get started doing whatever I am supposed to be doing." He said with a nod and turned to the door to walk out into the central area.

Miko watched him walk to the door and grinned.

"I can't believe it! He had an arm removed, a new one attached, electrocuted in the process, and he's ready to take on the world!" She said and spun around to Ratchet and Rafael, eyes beaming with excitement. "He's amazing! I swear he could probably get shot in the chest, have the bullet pulled out, patched up, and walk back into the field! This guy is literally like a flesh based terminator!"

She whipped around and ran out the door to tell Bulkhead. June looked at Rafael and Ratchet with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, she is kind of right. After check up, he just marched out to go to work." Ratchet said rubbing his chin. "This is interesting."

He turned and walked over to the station and began typing some notes out.

In the central chambers…

Max walked out and looked up at Optimus Prime. He gave a quick salute.

"Ok big guy, I'm ready to work and pull my weight

"I take it then you have been cleared by Ms. Darby?" Optimus asked looking down at him. "Then I want you to go on patrol with Arcee and she will teach you what is expected on patrol. Be careful out there. The Decepticons have been active since the little skirmish at your shop. I'd almost hazard a guess that they are looking for you."

Max nodded and looked at the steel arm.

"With this it will make me stand out too." Max said. "I have some gear to cover it and some weapons I can use. Let Arcee know I will be ready in fifteen."

With that, he saluted Optimus Prime and took off at a steady jog to where his supplies had been stored. Optimus watched him and nodded to himself.

"Reminds me of a soldier I once knew." Fowler said as he walked over on a catwalk. "Hope you can handle him, Prime. I don't think you realize what you just recruited."

Optimus looked at Fowler.

"What do you mean, Agent Fowler?" Optimus asked curious.

"Just dug this up to pass on to you and the rest of Team Prime." Fowler said with a nod. "Your new human ally was a part of a special squad, before he was assigned to work with Hawk Eye. They were called Phantom Squad. The appeared and disappeared without a trace. They carried all their gear on them and could easily blend in a crowd. Their weapons were made to seemingly appear out of thin air and then vanish just as easily. They were trained for any environment and trained to use any tactics."

"They sound to be a strange squadron. Why would your government create such squad?" Optimus asked.

"They were created to step into a situation before it was decided to use nuclear weaponry. They struck fear across the globe. They had operatives in every major country and could infiltrate any terrorist group in less than ninety-six hours. They were called a black project squad. Only a select few of the DoD, CIA, and NSA could access them. To everyone else, their just stories to cause nightmares. Max is one of the originals. He was pulled in to work with Hawk Eye, since he was the one who found her, during a mission." Fowler explained. "Give him the right weapons and he might be able to take down a Con."

Optimus nodded and looked over as Arcee walked up.

"So is he cleared?" She asked nonchalantly.

"He is preparing himself right now." Optimus said with a nod. "Take care out there. You have seen the reports on the Decepticons."

Arcee nodded and turned to wait. A few minutes later, Max walked out of the hall and up to them. He wore black fatigues with a belt that had pockets along it. He also wore a tactical vest that had pockets all over it. His shirt covered up on his neck, gloves covered his hands, black boots, and what looked like a rumpled hat on his head. Slung over one shoulder was a backpack.

"I'm ready to head out." Max said looking to Arcee.

"No weapon?" Arcee asked with a blink.

"He has more weapons than you know that you don't see." Fowler chuckled quietly.

Arcee looked at him and shrugged.

"Ok then, let's go." She said and transformed.

Max moved over and swung a leg over with a practiced ease. He took the helmet that was there and slipped it on. As he gripped the handle bars, Arcee revved, and the land bridge opened. They shot through it and were gone. Fowler sighed as they left.

"I feel like we just turned on of the horsemen loose on the world." He said shaking his head.

Later

Jack came in and looked around.

"Where's Arcee?" He asked as he walked up towards Prime and Ratchet.

They both looked down at Jack and blinked.

"She didn't tell you she was taking Max out on a training mission?" Ratchet asked mildly surprised.

"Nope. How did the reattaching of his arm go?" Jack asked crossing his arm.

"That went well. I sent him out with Arcee for a two day patrol." Prime said calmly

Jack nodded and walked over to join Miko on the video game system.

On patrol

The motorcycle streaked down the dirt road. It weaved smoothly through the gravel and trees. Thanks to Arcee's precision system, they had to dodge a minimal amount to slide around trees as they went.

"So you patrol to look for energon stores?" Max said as he held on.

"Yep. Need it to sustain us and our weaponry. Our bio-systems won't function on any other kind of energy." Arcee explained as they raced down the trail.

"Yeah, that is what Hawk Eye explained. So the war has been kind of going bad for you guys I take it?" Max said as he ducked under low branches.

"Well there are more of the Cons than there is of us, if that is what you mean, but we have held our own." Arcee said as they slid around a tree in a spray of gravel.

The motorcycle slid to o stop and Max stepped off, removing the helmet. Arcee quickly transformed and crouched by him.

"I just picked up a huge energon store and Com signatures ahead. Let's go take a look." Arcee said in a hush tone and began to crawl forward.

Max hooked the helmet on the back of his vest and pulled his hat down over his face, covering it with the exception of his eyes that he pulled out a small pair of goggles and slipped them on. He slid into the brush and quickly glided through the brush, blending in to the shadows as he went

Arcee peered over the brush covered cliff and looked down into a small valley, seeing Vehicons walking about with KockOut and Starscream walking around.

"Scrap. Starscream and KockOut are down there. Means Airachnid might be in the tunnel. Looks like we might have to call this patrol short, Max." She said and looked behind her, not seeing Max. "Max?"

Max had slipped over the side and was quietly crawling down the side. He slowly crawled up behind a small boulder and peered around it. A hand slid into a pocket and pulled out a small hand held. He tapped on the digital display and it began to locate and track nearby signals. In a few minutes, he had found the signal to talk to Arcee.

"Arcee, can you hear me?" He whispered into the small radio.

"Yeah, where are you?" She whispered back over the radio.

"Down the side off to your right, behind the boulder covered in black berry bushes." Max whispered.

Arcee turned her head and looked in the direction indicated and saw the boulder. Her eyes squinted and she saw a dark figure glide around the boulder.

"That ahs to hurt." She whispered.

"It does." Max said back. "I'm going to try and get a look in the cave. IF it is full of them, do I blow it?"

"Look first." Arcee said as she crouched down.

She watched as Max slipped through the shadows of the underbrush. IT amazed her how fast he was moving and creating next to no noise as far as she could tell. None of the Cons seemed to hear him either as he moved along, in some cases within thirty yards of a Vehicon.

Max quietly crawled up to the cave entrance and peered in. He saw even more shadows and slipped into the cave entrance.

On the other sides of the small area, Arcee's eyes bugged out as she saw him slip into the cave. She watched as a Vehicon walked up to KnockOut and point into the cave. KnockOut nodded and walked that way. Arcee slid her blasters out and waited quietly as she watched KnockOut walk into the cave.

"Max! KNockOut is coming into the cave!" She whispered into her comm.

"Thanks." Max replied and the line went silent.

In the cave

Max quickly slipped into a small crevice and shoved back into it. He could hear the heavy steps approaching, but then heard another set up footsteps coming from deeper into the cave.

"Airachnid, is everything going well down there?" KnockOut's voice sounded.

"Yes, dear KnockOut. IT turns out to be a larger deposit than we thought initially. Enough here to go on the offensive against the Autobots easily." Airachnid's voice sounded out. "IS Starscream still walking around and whining outside?"

"Nothing new there. He's more of an annoyance than he is a help." KnockOut muttered and cleared his throat. "Careful down there. One of the Vehicons detected random heat spots on thermal. We might have a human crawling around."

"Then make sure the entrance is guarded" Airachnid said coldly and Max heard light footstep walking away.

A few minutes later, he heard heavier footsteps walking back towards the tunnel entrance. Max slipped a hand up and pulled out a tiny ear piece out of a pocket. He attached the end to his small radio and slid it under the head covering to slip it into his ear. He then clicked the radio on and hooked it on a strap against his throat.

"Arcee." He barely whispered.

"Yeah. Are you alright." Arcee asked quietly.

"Airachnid is in the cave. Large energon deposit in here too. They want to use it to go on the offensive against the team." Max said barely above a whisper.

"I can see it is a huge deposit. How far in are you?" Arcee asked quietly.

"Hundred yards. Course of actions?" Max whispered quietly.

Arcee was quiet for a few moments as she thought about it. That much energon could help the Autobots out well, but it was also a bomb just waiting to blow. IF they fought here for the deposit, one wrong shot and there would be a crater. She thought for a moment and made a choice.

"Collapse the tunnel if you can or blow it underground if you can." She said quietly.

"Affirmative." Max said in a cold tone.

Arcee blinked at the change in tone and looked at the cave as Knockout walked out.

Max slipped out of the crevice and his right eye made a whirring sound as it refocused. Max ran down the tunnel quietly, pulling out small boxes and digital time pads. He slid up against the wall and into another crevice. He quickly attached the time pad to a box and punched in five minutes. He stuck it in the crevice and as soon as he let go, a timer appeared in his eye. He quickly began to lace the tunnel with the small box and time pad set up. He set his last one and quickly ducked into another crevice, as he heard voices. The timer showed he had about a minute and a half. He was a good six hundred yards in the tunnel now and at least four hundred yards from the first explosive. He glanced around the edge of the crevice and saw Airachnid talking to a Vehicon, giving him orders. Max watched as the timer counted down to a minute left. He took a deep breath.

"Arcee, one minute until detonation. On my way out." Max said barely above a whisper.

Airachnid stopped talking and looked around.

"I heard something." She said coldly and began to turn away from Max.

At that moment, Max bolted from the crevice, behind Airachnid's back. He hit the ground and was running like mad, as the timer kept counting down.

"Lady Airachnid! There is an intruder!" The Vehicon barked and Airachnid spun around, in time to see the small black figure racing away from her.

"You foolish human!" She snarled and took off running after him.

They say fear is a great motivator, but Max wasn't one to fear a lot of stuff. Though the idea of an alien female robot that weight closed to ten metric tons charging towards him, with weapons out, could classify as one of the few things on the planet he might be afraid of. Regardless, his legs found a new speed as he ran. The timer kept counting down steadily and Max pushed himself as it came closer to zero. He barely passed the last explosive as it went off. The force of the explosion slammed into his back and Max felt his feet leave the ground and then he felt weightless, as he flew head over heels out the tunnel. Then the energon went off and the blast out the tunnel entrance not only flung aside Vehicons, but shot out Airachnid. The focused blast turned Max into the human equivalent of a shotgun shell and he shot across the small valley, slamming into the bushes. His body was screaming in pain as he forced himself over and quickly crawled off at an angle from where he hit, while the explosion kept going off.

Arcee was caught off guard and thrown backwards by the explosion. She sat up stunned and looked around.

"Max!" She called over the comm.

Max crawled around a tree and found a hole among the roots and crawled in it. He could feel bleeding on his back and side. He began to pull pieces out of pockets. He reached to the back of his vest and pulled out two barrel tubes. He quickly attached them to the small gun shape he had in front of him and kept attaching parts to it. A final piece attached under the barrels with a click. Max pulled out one last piece and slapped it in the butt of the small weapon, as he heard heavy running feet around the tree.

"I saw a human in black clothing! He has to be around here! Tear this forest apart if you have to!" He heard Airachnid's voice demanding.

Arcee looked up and saw Vehicons running up the cliff said and opened fire with her blasters, starting to take them down, as she ran backwards

Max quickly pulled a tube out of one of the larger pockets and snapped it to a small crystal piece. He ducked down as he heard the tree cracking and it was suddenly torn out of the ground around him. Max dove to the side with gun in one hand and the tube in the right hand. The thumb shoved into the tube and a two foot blade of energy formed off the end. Max turned and fired at the stunned Vehicon, catching it under the chin with a bolt of blue energy. It was a wild, but lucky shot, as it severed primary relays and the robot dropped to the ground. A hand reached down to grab him and the blade sliced through the metal easily. Max twirled and fired a second time, catching a second Vehicon in the eye, as he kept moving. Move he did, as his body twirled, flipped spun, rolled, leaped and run, doing everything he could to stay out of the Vehicons grasp as they tried to grab him, or stomp on him. In some cases lasers ripped up the ground as he kept going. Now granted the U.S. Department of Defense didn't exactly provide him a manual for fighting giant intergalactic robotic aliens, but there was always a standing rule in all wars. Don't provide your enemy a sitting target. You keep moving no matter how. That is what Max was doing, but he felt the blood seeping out of his body.

"Ms. Darby is going to kill me for this one!" Max growled as he kept moving and shooting.

Suddenly a very familiar blue motorcycle appeared beside him and Max deactivated the blade and jumped on, hanging on one handed and shooting at any pursuers, as they raced across the ground

Back at Autobot Base

June, Jack, Miko, Fowler, and Rafael stood there stunned at what Optimus Prime and Ratchet just said.

"Wait, you mean the Bot Max was talking about?" Miko asked stunned. "She's alive?"

"Yes and we believe we can get her a new body, but we aren't sure what to expect doing this." Optimus said with a nod. "There was enough CNA to program into a proto form."

"We're worried if it is close to desecrating a deceased individual by your standards." Ratchet said with a nod.

"Well, it would give you guys another Autobot on your team." June muttered and Jack nodded in agreement.

"Have you started already?" Rafael asked hesitantly.

Prime and Ratchet looked at each other nervously and the group fell quiet.

"You have." Miko said quietly.

"She will be up and moving by the morning." Ratchet said quietly. "But she lost her vehicle form."

"Well it is already done and if we said no to it, you would have to kill her." Fowler said with a nod. "From my understanding, she wasn't dead, so I don't see a problem in it."

The others nodded in agreement.

Arcee slid to a stop and Max pretty much fell off the side, gasping in pain. Arcee transformed and knelt by him, beginning to take off the clothing to see the wounds. Max didn't fight it as she removed his top and vest.

"Damn it Max! I thought you would have given yourself more time to escape!" Arcee growled as she saw the severity of the wounds. "You're in bad shape." She quickly ripped his shirt in strips and began to bind the wounds that she could. Max stopped her and pulled the vest back on. He strapped it down as tight as he could, to apply pressure to larger wounds.

"It was a calculated risk to complete the mission." Max gasped as he felt some of his ribs move.

"I have to get you back to base." She said as she sat back. "And where did you get an energon blade and blaster?"

"Built them." He gasped and tried to stand up. "Their probably chasing us still. We have to keep moving."

They both turned as they heard a jet and helicopter approaching. Max's right eye and Arcee's eyes rotated to zoom out and saw it was Starscream and Airachnid in the air and KnockOut on the ground.

"Three of them and I'm not ready for another round." Max muttered.

Arcee touched the side of her head.

A few moments later the ground bridge opened and they both went through it as fast as they could, which meant Max was braced against Arcee's leg.

In the base, everyone looked up as they came through. The gate shut behind them and Max grinned weakly.

"We…had to cut it….a little short.' He said gasping and dropped on the ground.

A few hours later, Max opened his eyes and groaned. Surprisingly, Miko was standing right there. Her arm was wrapped in a bandage.

"What happened to you?" Max asked quietly looking at her.

"You did." She said smiling weakly.

"That's right Max. You lost too much blood and we needed to get blood in you. Miko was the only match for your type." June said walking up. "What happened out there? Arcee is explaining everything to Optimus Prime."

"Ran into the Decepticons and had a skirmish." Max said quietly.

"Wow, just got a new arm and couldn't wait to test it out against the Cons?" Miko asked stunned. "How many did you bag?"

"Can't really say I killed any of them, but I'm sure I gave them at least an expensive repair bill." Max said chuckling weakly.

He raised his right hand up and Miko humped her small fist against his metal one.

"Good job." She said quietly. "You got pretty messed up though too. Now you get to rest for a day or so."

June nodded in agreement and checked the machinery next to him.

"You're lucky you came in when you did. Too much longer and you would have bled out. You need to be careful out there. They have armor, we don't."

June turned and walked out. Miko stepped and suddenly kissed Max's forehead.

"You're still a bad ass taking them on." She said with a grin and walked out of medical.

A few minutes later, Optimus Prime and Arcee walked in and stood near the raised platform that Max's bed was on.

"Arcee tells me that you blew up a large energon deposit at her request. DO you know how deep it was?" Optimus asked.

"I went in about six hundred yards and it was still going deeper." Max said quietly.

"Six hundred yards and it kept going?" Optimus said thoughtfully. "There might still be energon in it. I'll send Arcee back to check, but send her with Bumblebee and Bulkhead with her. You did good Max. Now just get some rest and heal."

Optimus walked out of the room and Arcee stepped up.

"You really pushed yourself. Medical scans showed that you pushed your legs hard enough running out, that you actually tore muscle fibers running. That's going to take a bit to heal and it is going to hurt." She said with a smile. "You have to be one of the craziest humans I have ever met."

"Hawk Wing once said the same thing to me." Max said with a small smile. "Right after I stuck a finger in energon to see what would happen."

Arcee grinned and gently patted the side of his face with a finger.

"Get some rest soldier. There is a surprise in the morning for you." She said. "Rest well tonight."

With that, Arcee walked out of the room.


	6. Reborn and Healed

Reborn and Healed

Her eyes slowly opened. All she saw was the soft blue around her face. She mentally reached out and felt her arms, legs, and body.

"I'm alive?" She thought stunned.

She slowly moved her head and looked down at her body, looking for wounds. All that she saw was her silver and gold body in perfect shape.

"No wounds? I felt the impacts." She thought again.

Her hand rose up and gently parted the blue liquid as she looked at it. She felt her circuits all through her body working. Her hand carefully touched her face. It gently slid over her face and down the side of her body.

"Something is wrong. Something is missing." She thought as she finally looked around. She found herself floating in a tube of blue liquid that she identified immediately as Energon. Her hand reached out and softly touched the wall of the tube, finding it smooth. She gently tapped on it.

Outside the tube

Ratchet's head snapped up as he heard a soft tapping sound. He looked around, afraid that there was a Scraplet. He spun around to keep looking and saw a hand on the tube filled with Energon. He quickly stood up and moved over to the controls next to the tube.

In the Tube

She saw a large figure move over, after she tapped on the glass a few times. IT looked vaguely familiar, but it was an old memory and hard to place. After a few moments, she felt the liquid begin to lower in the tube. The bottom of her feet softly touched the flat bottom of the tube. A few second later, as the liquid kept lowering, she felt a couple of connections on her head separate. She looked up and saw the cables pull up into the top.

"Am I in a proto form tank?" She said softly, carefully testing her voice. "IF that is true, then…"

The liquid kept lowering and she looked through the glass, seeing the large figure watching her carefully. She nodded to it, to acknowledge it. The liquid finally finished draining out and she felt a cool blast of air, as the panel slowly slid across the front, opening the chamber. She slowly fell forward and Ratchet caught her carefully.

"Careful, the weakness is only temporary." Ratchet said cautiously. "Do you know who I am and who you are?"

She looked up at him and finally was able to get a clear look at his face and the memory finally cleared up.

"You're…Ratchet." She said quietly. "My name is… Hawk Wing."

Several minutes later

Hawk Wing was sitting on a Bot size table with her legs hanging over the edge. The other Autobots were around her.

"Then the last thing I remember is the processor exploding. Then I am in the tube here." Hawk Wing said softly. "Was I dead?"

"Not quite." Optimus said with a shake of his head. A human attached you to a small power supply of energon and kept you in a coma like state for a long time."

"Was it Max?" Hawk Wing asked with a hint of hope in her eyes.

"So you really do know him?" Wheel Jack asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, he and I were close friends before the explosion. Do you guys know him?" Hawk Wing asked looking at all of them.

"Your friend is in the next room over, healing up from injuries." Arcee said and pointed to the wall that separated the two large rooms.

Hawk Wing jumped up to go see Max and stumbled, clutching her head.

"What's wrong with me? I feel that something is missing still and my body feels different." She gasped as BumbleBee caught her.

"Easy Hawk Wing." Ratchet said and helped her stand up with Bee's help. "Enough time had passed to cause your vehicle imprint to become corrupted. I had to remove it. You no long have a vehicle form."

Hawk Wing looked at him in shock.

"I can't transform anymore?" She whispered in horror.

"You just need a new form. The T-Cog is in perfect shape." Ratchet said quietly.

Hawk Wing nodded and carefully stood away from BumbleBee and Ratchet, testing her balance she looked at Optimus Prime.

"Optimus, May I go see him?" She asked hopefully.

"Just be careful. He is in rough shape." Optimus said with a nod.

Hawk Wing nodded and walked out of the room quickly.

Out in the main area

Miko walked into the main room, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"God I hate mornings." She muttered groggily.

She stopped as she heard heavy steps and looked up, expecting to see BulkHead. Instead she stopped in her tracks as a fifteen foot tall, gold and silver female robot walked by her and stopped.

They both turned and looked at each other. Miko took in the sight of the silver and gold body that seemed almost flawless in its female shape. Hawk Wing looked down at the small human in wonder. Her eyes drawn to the pink patch of hair in the dark hair. She smiled at the contrast.

"Pink makes a good contrast." Hawk Wing said with a nod.

"Uh, thanks." Miko said stunned at the female Autobot.

Hawk Wing walked into the medical room, leaving Miko standing there. Miko turned as Arcee walked out, followed by the other Bots.

"Who is that?" Miko asked stunned. "She looks amazing."

"That's Hawk Wing." Arcee said with a shrug.

In the medical room

Hawk Wing walked up carefully, as she looked around. She noticed small beds on a higher platform. She spotted a sleeping form in one of them and walked to it. She looked down on Max as he slept. Her optics scanned over his face. She saw the wrinkles around the eyes and the slight touch of grey in his hair.

"By the spark, how long has it been?" She whispered quietly as she looked on him. "I was so afraid you died in that explosion."

Her optics looked down the covered body and stopped on the right arm.

"Energon? What happened to you Max?" She said quietly, as she covered her mouth.

"He lost his arm in that explosion." Arcee said walking up.

Hawk Wing turned and saw Arcee. She also saw Miko coming up the stairs and jogging down the walkway towards Max's bed.

"Did Ratchet build him one to replace his arm?" Hawk Wing asked quietly.

"Max had a mechanical arm when he helped me." Arcee said quietly. "That arm was damaged in a fight with the Decepticons and Ratchet built him a new one."

"That means Max built the first one." Miko said as she sat on the stool by Max's bed.

"He built one?" Hawk Wing asked quietly. "The Medical program he spoke of. Using our biomechanical technology to help humans who lost limbs or organs. He actually did it?"

"He's the only one we know of."Arcee said quietly.

Max slowly opened his eyes and Hawk Wing stepped back, avoiding his area of vision.

"I'm not complete anymore. I can't let him see me incomplete." Hawk Wing said quietly, worried.

Miko rolled her eyes and scooted closer to Max's bedside.

"Hey Max. Time to wake up." Miko said smiling. "How you feeling?"

"Huh? Oh right. Morning Miko." Max groaned and raised his mechanical arm from under the blanket and carefully rubbed his face. "Feel like… a cliff fell on me again."

"That's not what you were going to say." Miko teased. "When did you have a cliff fall on you?"

Hawk Wing tried to quietly walk to the door, but was grabbed by Arcee and turned around.

"Miko, I don't think now is the time to hear war stories from Max's past. We have someone here to see him." Arcee said gently.

Miko nodded and moved her stool down to the foot of the bed. Arcee pulled a struggling Hawk Wing forward.

"What's going on….?" Max asked as he sat up and stopped at the sight of Hawk Wing. "Hawk Wing?"

Hawk Wing stopped struggling at his words and looked at him meekly.

"Hi Max." She said smiling and Arcee pushed her forward. "Are you alright?"

"Busted up a little from a detonating Energon mine and fire fight with some Decepticons yesterday." Max said quietly. "How are you here?"

"I received a new body from a proto tank." Hawk Wing said quietly as she moved closer to the raised bed. "I'm not complete though."

Her eyes looked down at those words. Max looked at her and then to Arcee.

"Ratchet. Now." He said with a hint of steel in his voice.

Arcee nodded and walked out of the room Max looked at Hawk Wing.

"I'll get to the bottom of it and when I'm done, I'll do all I can to help you become whole again." Max said gently and reached out to hear.

She gently took a hold of his hand and held it. Miko watched this and blinked quietly. She knew what this meant and wasn't going to ruin it for Max. She did feel a slight twinge of jealousy, but she had heard the story before and had a good idea of why Max did what he did. All three of them turned as Ratchet and the others came in. June came up the stairs and to the foot of the bed, staring in awe at the sight of Hawk Wing.

"That's really her?" June asked Miko quietly. "She's beautiful."

"I know." Miko said quietly, not wanting to disturb Max and Hawk Wing.

"Ratchet, what happened to her?" Max said looking at the old medic.

"What do you mean?" Ratchet asked walking up to look at Hawk Wing. "She's fine."

"She says she isn't complete." Max said sternly.

Hawk Wing opened her mouth to say something, but Ratchet cut her off.

"She lost her vehicle form. The imprint had become corrupted during the time you had her attached to the power supply." Ratchet said.

"I was told if she had energon, she would remain fine." Max said.

"You never told him about the T-Cog?" Ratchet asked looking at Hawk Wing.

"No," she said quietly. "I was killed before I could."

"T-Cog?" Max asked confused.

"The T-Cog is a special piece of our biomechanical system. It allows us to transform and take an imprint of a form to blend in. The imprint is also placed in our CNA, so that if we need to produce a body from a proto form, we will have the form to use." Ratchet explained. "The problem was the T-Cog isn't stored in the head. It's in the body. She went so long without her T-Cog; the CNA imprint became corrupted without the primary imprint to help reinforce it. I had to remove it so I could revive her."

"So how can I help her become complete?" Max asked.

"All she has to do is find a new form to scan. Her body will adjust to accommodate the form." Ratchet said with a shrug.

"Any form?" Max asked looking up at Hawk Wing.

"Well, I haven't seen a Transformer take on an organic form before, but then we haven't been among humans for too long, though I don't think we could transform into a smaller bipedal without anything to deal with all of our mass." Ratchet said. "I wouldn't say a human form would work if that is what you are wonder. Our weapons are partially dependent on the form we choose."

Max nodded and winced at the pain. Hawk Wing looked at him worried.

"How bad was he?" She asked looking at the others.

"He lost a lot of blood and had a couple of ribs break. I patched him up as well as I could. He just needs time." June said politely

"Are you a human medic?" Hawk Wing asked looking at her.

"Yes. I take care of the human side of Team Prime." June said with a nod.

"I helped Max put on the new arm and I'm hoping to learn more about the biomechanics of your bodies." Miko said her eyes glinting brightly.

Hawk Wing looked at her and smiled.

"You remind me of Max when we first met. He was so hungry for knowledge." Hawk Wing said with a soft chuckle.

"Oh man not the stories about then." Max groaned and laid back on the bed as everyone laughed.

On Megatron's warship

Megatron was looking at an image of Max at the mine.

"So this human blew up the mine by himself?" Megatron said looking at the image. "And survived?"

Airachnid, Starscream, and KnockOut nodded.

"I have to give him credit for having the bearings to do it. We had Vehicons all around, as well as KnockOut and Starscream. He managed to avoid all detection and get into the mine a ways. I thought the shockwave from the explosion killed him, but then he appeared with an energon blaster and blade. He dropped two Vehicons in a matter of seconds and then was on the back of the Autobot bitch Arcee, as she raced away." Airachnid said disdainfully.

"A human, with weapons, that can kill a Decepticon?" Megatron said thoughtfully. "How did he get away from the three of you?"

"Arcee attacked and I was caught off guard by her presence, as she suddenly appeared firing." Starscream stated, crossing his arm.

Megatron turned to the other two, ignoring him.

"I was flung aside by the explosion and disoriented." KnockOut admitted angrily.

"I caught the brunt of the explosion and it slammed me into the cliff side." Airachnid admitted disgusted with herself.

Megatron looked at them for a moment and suddenly began to laugh at them.

"How ironic. A human survives an explosion that disorients the three of you and gets away. Oh this must have been a mighty human indeed." Megatron laughed mockingly.

Starscream opened his mouth to state something and shut it quickly from a single glare from Megatron.

"Don't pretend to tell me you were bravely engaging Arcee. At least Airachnid and KnockOut had the stomach to admit their downfalls." Megatron snarled at Starscream. "Now is there anything you can tell me about this human that is of worth note?"

KnockOut and Starscream shook their heads in defeat. Megatron looked at Airachnid, waiting for her response.

"This is the second time I have encountered the human and both times I noticed something." Airachnid said as her eyes narrowed. "He has an Energon trace. I believe that I can hunt him due to that little detail. IT makes him stand out more from the other humans."

Megatron smiled, showing the sharp teeth he had.

"Then bring me this human Airachnid. I want him alive." Megatron said with a dark smile.

"At once Lord Megatron." Airachnid said with a bow.

At the Autobots base

Hawk Wing looked over the assembly closely, as Fowler read off instructions. HE stopped and looked at her.

"Did it all match up?" Howler asked, curious.

"Yes it did, Fowler. IF I remember this right, this is the device we developed that would use Energon to help expedite the growth or rebinding of bone tissue." Hawk Wing said as she double checked the machine.

"So this is going to use Energon and heal up Max's ribs? Fowler had a personal experience with Energon and it messed him up pretty badly." Miko said standing by Max's bed.

"IF it is applied in the human skin directly, it results much like a large dose of electrical outburst. The human body can survive it, but it has painful and hampering side effects." Hawk Wing said and looked at Fowler. "Right?"

Fowler cleared his throat and looked down.

"IT hurt a lot." Was all he admitted to.

Miko laughed, remembering how he was and Hawk Wing just smiled. June was looking over the attachments Hawk Wing gave her to attach to Max's chest.

"Are you sure this won't shock his heart into stopping?" June asked looking up.

"Well it is untested, but I think that due to his exposure to Energon, Max should be able to pull through. IT might shock him and maybe singe his hair, but he should be able to handle it. He's done worse to himself in the Project." Hawk Wing said with a nod. "IF things go bad, I am glad we have you here, Ms. Darby."

Miko moved around the bed and sat near Max's head, with a worried look on her face. June nodded to Arcee and let out a slow breath as she attached the last few cables.

"All attached here." June said nervously.

"All connections are good here." Hawk Wing said with a hint of concern in her voice. "Max?"

Max took a chunk of an old leather belt and stuck it between his teeth and gave the thumbs up sign.

Out in the central area

"You say that Hawk Wing was an inventor?" BulkHead asked looking at Prime and Ratchet.

"She had found many ways to use Energon, besides being our life blood and weapons power." Ratchet said with a nod. "Before the war destroyed her lab, Hawk Wing had even found a way to use Energon to control Scraplets. She turned them on the Decepticons that attacked her lab, so she could escape."

BumbleBee and BulkHead cringed at this and looked at each other. A few beeps and clicks came from BumbleBee.

"Do not worry; Hawk Wing is an Autobot as much as I am." Optimus Prime said reassuringly.

Then the lights dimmed slightly and they heard a muffled scream from the medical lab.

"I hope so." Arcee said worried. "And I also hope she isn't a sadist."

The light returned to normal and Arcee headed to the medical lab.

Inside the lab

Hawk Wing shut the machine off and watched as Max's body collapsed on the bed limply. June quickly moved the attachments off his chest and patted out the patches of smoldering chest hair. She put a stethoscope to his chest and sighed with relief at the sound of his heartbeat. When June relaxed, Miko visibly relaxed and quickly rubbed her eyes. Hawk Wing moved over and gently touched his cheek.

"Max, you still with us?" She asked quietly.

"God, that hurt more than the raw exposure did." Max groaned raised his metal hand to wipe his face, but Hawk Wing gently took his hand and held it.

"Uh Max, don't' do that." Miko said as she scooted around the bed with a wet towel. "Your shoulder is sizzling."

She set the towel on the seam between flesh and steel. A loud hissing sound emitted as the towel touched the steel. Max looked at it and groaned.

"Did it work, despite the pain?" Fowler asked hopeful.

June slide the screen over and slipped the plate under Max's back carefully. She tapped a few buttons and the screen lit up. She looked at it and her eyes widen in shock.

"The ribs' broken ends have fused together." She said amazed, as Fowler and Miko looked as well. "And it looks like the adapter was fried either."

Miko looked at the screen and looked at Max.

"You have to be the luckiest man alive! I thought you were getting cooked alive with that scream, but it worked." She said stunned.

"We heard the scream in Central." Arcee said as she walked in. "How'd it go?"

"I believe his ribs are connected again. A few more liters of blood and he will be alright." June said still amazed.

Everyone looked back at Max and saw he had gone to sleep holding onto Hawk Wing's hand.

"Good job, Hawk Wing." June said quietly and smiled.


End file.
